


H.R.'s Birthday Treasure Hunt

by darling_pet



Category: The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Presents, Cake, Clues, Cute, Established Relationship, F/M, Ficlet, Fluff, HR is a puppy dog, One Shot, Reader-Insert, Surprises, Sweet, Treasure Hunting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 07:10:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12501756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darling_pet/pseuds/darling_pet
Summary: It's H.R.'s birthday and you have created a special little game for him as a gift.





	H.R.'s Birthday Treasure Hunt

**Author's Note:**

> Is it a coincidence I'm posting this story on Cavanagh's birthday? Pfffft! HA! Well...

 

The waiting is killing you.

Everything is set up for H.R.'s birthday treasure hunt. All that's left is for him to get back from his evening Jitters run. You have a monitor set up in his S.T.A.R. Labs “bedroom” so you are able to track his every move throughout this little game. An alert on the screen notifies you of someone entering the front doors.

_The_ _E_ _agle is in the_ _N_ _est._

H.R. stops in the entryway, eyes fixed on the new and peculiar arrows marked in coloured tape on the floor. Near the first arrow is a piece of paper – the first note written by you.

“What's this?” he says to himself, picking it up. He reads your note, the one saying:

 

_Let's go to_ _the place_ _where it all began..._

 

H.R.'s curiosity gets the better of him as he wanders along happily, following the marked path to the Breach Room in the basement. The place where he first showed up in S.T.A.R. Labs and into your life. He looks around the room and shouts, “Hellooo?”

You had wheeled the transparent writing board down here for this whole thing. There's no way he could miss it. Oh, and there he goes! He walks up to it and takes a sip of his coffee, probably the Brazilian Roast, trying to figure out what you've written on it. H.R. strokes his chin tentatively.

You can practically see the lightbulb go off in his head.

He moves to the other side of the board, realizing your words were written backwards:

 

ǫnilliɿʜƚ ɘɿom nɘvɘ nɘɘd ɘvɒʜ bluow ɘivom ƨ'noɿɘmɒƆ ƨɘmɒႱ

...ɘƨɒɔ ɿɘbɿum ɒ bɘvlovni ɿɘʜƚɘǫoƚ ɘmiƚ ƨ'ɘƨoЯ bnɒ ʞɔɒႱ ʇi

...ƨɿuoy ʇo ʞood ɘƚiɿuovɒʇ ym ni ɘʞil ʜɔum

 

“I see what you're doing, (Y/N)!” H.R. shouts to the ceiling excitedly, knowing now full well you are the mastermind behind it all. “This is tremendous!”

You can't help but grin to yourself.

“I believe you must mean my smash hit, _Murder on the Titanic!_ ” he continues to speak to you even though he can't see you. He doesn't need to. H.R. knows you're watching. “I recall you finishing the book a few days ago. It should still be on your desk...” He rushes back upstairs to the Cortex as you follow his steps from multiple security camera angles around the building. And boy does he have the cutest little run.

Precisely as he thought, _Murder on the Titanic_ sits in the centre of your tidy work desk. Flipping through the pages, he finds nothing, not until he reaches the final page where his author's bio is found. Framing his author photo is a heart you drew around it and underneath that is a sticky note reading:

 

_Who really needs Jitters now that we have “H.R's Cafe”?_

 

He chuckles at the clue and knows exactly where to go next – the workroom now dedicated to your eccentric boyfriend's various coffee making machines and coffee bean storage. Here he finds a cup of joe timed to the perfect drinking temperature waiting for him. Written on the side of the mug with yet another sticky note are the words:

 

_Drink me._

 

“Well, if I _must,_ ” he jokes, downing his original Jitters drink and proceeds to chug the one you left for him. “Hmm, what's this here?” H.R. peers down to the very bottom of the white ceramic mug, finding your scrawl in black permanent marker:

 

_Hello! Would you like some Jell-O? (Hint: Yes, you would!)_

 

“Don't mind if I do.”

He bends down to open the mini fridge where the milk and coffee creamers are kept and pulls out a plate of lime Jell-O.

H.R.'s favourite of all the Jell-O flavours.

In the middle of the dessert, a piece of paper floats and jiggles, so he grabs the nearest spoon and starts shovelling the green gelatine into his face until he reaches the final note of the game:

 

_You must be tired after all your treasure hunting._

_Maybe you should go to bed..._

 

Even from the monitor, you can tell H.R. has a funny look in his eye. He puts on his best Flash impression and runs like the wind to his room. You can hear his footsteps getting closer and closer, so you ready yourself on his bed with his special treat. The door swings open and you can see on his face how incredibly happy he is seeing you at the end of this. In fact, H.R. looks at you like this often.

But it never gets old.

You get up to kiss your man on the cheek.

“What, no jumping out of a cake?” he kids.

You giggle. “Maybe next year.” You angle the cake to show him the design in the icing. Two crossed drumsticks with _Happy Birthday, H.R._ written in between them.

“I don't know what to say.” He has no words. _That's a first!_ “I have _never_ had a birthday gift like the adventure you've given me today.”

“Oh, I have more, just wait!” You run to monitor's desk and grab the box you'd been hiding from him all day and hand it to him. Out of the box, H.R. pulls out his drumsticks.

“So this is where they've been! But why are you-”

“Press this little button, here,” you instruct him. He does so, and a voice recording of you singing Happy Birthday to him plays out.

“You turned my sticks into a voice recorder? That is... a- _mazing!_ Thank you, (Y/N), I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this.”

“There's one more thing.” You hand him an even smaller box. When he opens it, he takes the small piece of metal in his hand.

“A key? A key to what?”

“My apartment.”

“Oh. _Oh!_ I graciously accept.” H.R. whisks you up in his arms. “Shall we go try it out? Yunno, see if it works?” He wiggles his eyebrows. You laugh.

“It's up to you, birthday boy.” You give him another quick kiss and your silly boyfriend starts ushering you towards the door.

“Best birthday ever,” he says with a small fist pump. You go to link arms with him upon exiting the room.

“And here's to many more.”


End file.
